Niskanen captures Finland's first PyeongChang gold

In a field of 71, the 50-kilometer mass start came down to two.

It was never really in question.

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Iivo Niskanen made his move on the final 1.66 kilometers and cruised to the finish line Saturday to win Finland's first gold medal of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics in the final men’s cross-country skiing competition.

Niskanen and Alexander Bolshunov, an Olympic Athlete from Russia, were neck-to-neck from around the 30.7-kilometer mark to the finish, with Bolshunov taking the lead for a brief while.

In the end, Niskanen had enough left in the tank for one final push.

The 26-year-old Niskanen moved into the lead 17.54 kilometers into the marathon and by the 34.2-kilometer point, Niskanen and Bolshunov separated themselves from the pack.

Niskanen finished the 50km mass start in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 22.1 seconds. The gold is the second Olympic gold of his career and first in an individual event. He was part of Finland's gold-medal team during the team sprint at the 2014 Sochi Games.

Bolshunov closed 18.7 seconds behind to capture the silver medal. OAR’s Andrey Larkov took home bronze.

The silver medal the 21-year-old Bolshunov's first career Olympic medal. Larkov, 28, acquired his second medal of these Games. He was part of OAR's bronze-medal team during the 4x10km relay.

Without Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who skipped the men's final cross-country event after winning three golds in PyeongChang, Norway failed to make the podium.

Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Hans Christer Holund, the top two Norwegian finishers, came in fifth and sixth placed, respectively. Norway has one more event to add on to its cross-country skiing medal lead.

The Norwegians have 13 medals in cross-country during these Games, including six golds.

Cross-country ends Sunday (1:15 a.m. EST) with the women’s 30km mass start.